Plans for metro connectivity to Old City revived

State govt. allocates ₹500 crore to Hyderabad Metro Rail works

The Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) has received allocations to the tune of ₹2,377.35 crore in this year’s budget with pending connectivity to the Old City from MGBS, Imlibun to Falaknuma of Corridor II of 5.5 km suddenly receiving a filip. On Monday, ₹500 crore was allocated for the purpose.

New proposed rapid transit to the Shamshabad airport has been allotted ₹377.35 crore for which the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has already prepared a detailed project report. The project has been awaiting government nod for the nearly 32-km elevated work from Gachibowli for the last couple of years.

HMR, the government’s special purpose vehicle, which oversees the metro construction has been allocated ₹1,500 crore too.

L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) had complered the first phase of the metro rail project across three dense traffic corridors — Red Line from L.B. Nagar to Miyapur, Blue Line from Nagole to Raidurg and the Green Line from Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) to Falaknuma. The last one was halted at Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station due to lack of permission in taking the line into the Old City.

The government cited religious and heritage structures along the route and later, financial losses of the concessionnaire due to the COVID-induced lockdowns as reasons for the delay in construction of the pending work. But, it has not been made clear if the government will fund the entire 5.5 km work on its own as the project cost has escalated substantially for property acquisition, shift of utilities like power lines, pipelines and others, besides the overall construction of the elevated viaduct as well as stations.

Incidentally, the Central government has not released the pending Viability Gap Funding (VGF) of ₹254 crore. It has released ₹1,204 crore of the total ₹1,458 crore (10% of the projected cost of ₹14,156 crore then) with Secunderabad MP and Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy making references to this pending work as possible reason for the delay. The money was being released in tranches, according to the construction progress in the seven years of construction for completing about 69.2 km 

It should also be noted that the Telangana government had allocated ₹1,000 crore last year for the metro rail construction but no works were grounded. Meanwhile, HMR managing director N.V.S. Reddy has thanked Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Finance Minister T. Harish Rao for the fund allocation this year.